Years of government neglect helped create conditions in Ontario’s long term care homes, making it difficult to contain the coronavirus.
Ontario’s Long-Term Care Minister, Merrliee Fullerton shared that belief Monday on the heels of the Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s report on long-term care homes, (LTCs) which called for more investments to improve working conditions and more care for residents.
The report stated Ontario’s long term care facilities were not ready for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has lead to 3,771 deaths in the sector.
Lysyk also pointed out in the report that lessons learned from SARS were either ignored or forgotten.
“Issues like overcrowding, homes built to old design standards, chronic understaffing, and a lack of adequate preparedness,” stated Fullerton when discussing the neglected areas.
The Minister mentioned COVID-19’s ability to spread so effortlessly made it very difficult for the province to keep pace with the virus in LTCs.
Fullerton adds deaths and cases within long term care homes have dropped significantly since vaccinations began rolling out, one area where the province has learned a great deal since the initial wave of COVID-19 in 2020.
